May 2012
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WatchYet another video of a little trip of mine. This one’s from September last year, when I went to Sweden with a bunch of friends. It shows images of Stockholm mainly, but also of Sigtuna and Uppsala.
March 2012
3 posts
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“Yours is the most terrible crime a human being can commit. I accuse you of a...”
– Judge in Papillon’s dream in Papillon (1973)
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Tips for improving your English
I think it should be obvious by reading this post, but just in case, a disclaimer: I’m not an English teacher.
I was taught English as a second language at school, for many years. Of course, I learned all the basic grammar. But due to the way I was taught, I ended up having serious problems to understand spoken English and, needless to say, to speak it. A few years ago, I started trying to...
November 2011
2 posts
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“Better call Saul!”
– Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad (2008 - present)
October 2011
2 posts
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WatchA video summary of a trip around Norway I did last summer with some friends. The footage has been lying around in my computer for a while and now I thought it was time to make something with it.
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A love story coming to an end
It’s very sad to say this, since I’ve been an Ubuntu user and supporter for five years, but the truth is that in recent times Ubuntu has gotten worse with each design iteration.
Ubuntu’s new interface, so-called Unity, has been surrounded by controversy from the very beginning. With a brand new interface being developed for GNOME —the desktop environment upon which is built...
August 2011
2 posts
“He never grew up. The world grew up around him, that’s all.”
– Anna Schmidt in The Third Man (1949)
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May 2011
2 posts
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“If you think that this is all there is, that our planet exists in magnificent...”
– Brian Cox in Wonders of the Solar System (2010)
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April 2011
3 posts
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Beauty at 5 centimeters per second
I’m no anime expert —in fact, I haven’t seen more than a few anime films in my life— but I’ve watched Byôsoku 5 senchimêtoru (5 Centimeters Per Second) this weekend and found it visually overwhelming.
Every shot is carefully crafted: colors, lights, framing, camera movement… The movie mimics real cameras behavior so there’s depth of field and even lens flares, and they’re...
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“The middle of every successful project looks like a disaster.”
– Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1943 - present)
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WatchA visual effects breakdown of my own that shows how post-production work can help creating a shot. It’s been all made inside Adobe After Effects.
March 2011
2 posts
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Facebook, privacy and security
Tuenti is a very popular Spanish social network similar to Facebook. I use the example of Tuenti in this text, but the underlying reasoning is valid in general terms and applies to another web services.
I know Facebook and Tuenti quite well. I’ve got a Facebook account that I use almost everyday and I’ve also been on Tuenti until recently. I’m the kind of user that goes through...
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“He’s not a serial killer. At least he didn’t mention it.”
– Melodie St. Ann Celestine in Whatever Works (2009)
February 2011
2 posts
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WatchA video I’ve made with footage taken during a recent 4-day trip to the north of England, covering Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. I went there to represent The Cosmonaut in a filmmaking event hosted by Screen Yorkshire.
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The kids are all right, and so is the movie
This text contains minor spoilers. Read it at your own discretion.
I didn’t have high hopes for The Kids Are All Right but —maybe because of that— it’s turned out to be a surprisingly good film. One of those nice little movies, not a masterpiece but a pleasant amusement. Funny and entertaining for the most part, it’s got the right amount of bitterness.
We’ve seen the...
October 2010
1 post
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“Machete don’t text. Machete improvise.”
– Machete in Machete (2010)
September 2010
3 posts
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“Deep down, everything is an accident.”
– Dimitri in The Secret Life of Words (2005)
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August 2010
1 post
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My thoughts on Frozen River
Family, abandonment, drugs, poverty, immigration, xenophobia, smuggling, slavery, desperation, sacrifice, compassion… All these themes, issues and feelings are dealt with in Frozen River, a worldwide acclaimed independent film that was even nominated for 2 Oscars in this year’s edition.
Director and writer Courtney Hunt has managed to integrate all these elements into the film, using them as...
July 2010
3 posts
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“A radio of impeccable acoustic quality that allows one to listen to silence.”
– Poetics for Cosmonauts by Henry Pierrot
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It's a fact, Linux has improved
I’m amazed at how much the Linux desktop experience has improved in recent times. The installation process is now easier than ever, applications get more user-friendly and full-featured release after release and the general appearance of the system is actually great —just look at the new style of Ubuntu, the most popular Linux distribution nowadays—. But equally important, there’s been...
June 2010
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May 2010
1 post
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“See you in another life, brotha.”
– Desmond Hume in Lost (2004 - 2010)
March 2010
2 posts
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WatchA promotional video I made for Global System CP, a Spanish chain of private study centers. It aims to be a quick introduction to the company and its services, targeted to potential students.
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March 11th
Six years ago, I had one of the most disturbing days of my life. I remember sitting in shock in front of the TV for the whole evening. I had an exam the next day but I wasn’t able to study. I felt devastated. I had this awful feeling, even though none of my relatives got hurt. But a lot of people actually did. In my city, for no reason. And it could have been anyone, so that was enough to...
February 2010
2 posts
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“Don’t tell me what I can’t do.”
– John Locke in Lost (2004 - 2010)
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WatchA video I made for The Cosmonaut project in commemoration of the reissue of Poetics for Cosmonauts, the book that inspired the film.
January 2010
2 posts
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“If you want something done, do it yourself.”
– Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg in The Fifth Element (1997)
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An extensive opinion about 3D cinema
Last week I went to see the long-awaited James Cameron’s blockbuster, Avatar, which is the first 3D movie I’ve ever seen —I actually saw some 3D stuff at an IMAX theater years ago, but not a regular movie until now—. So instead of writing about the movie itself, I’m going to tell you my thoughts about 3D cinema.
To begin with, let me explain what I think are the major flaws of...
December 2009
2 posts
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“Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world.”
– Jean-Luc Godard (1930 - present)
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Cinematographic Christmas
Are you celebrating Christmas Eve with a good film? Do you plan to say hello to the new year watching a movie? Nobody doubts that It’s a Wonderful Life is a Christmas classic and it will always be a good choice for this time of the year… but maybe you’re tired of it.
In the following lines I’m suggesting to you some nice, kind, very enjoyable films to watch on days like...
November 2009
2 posts
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“Our lives are defined by opportunities. Even the ones we miss.”
– Benjamin Button in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
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October 2009
3 posts
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“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”
– Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
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All about pianists
I wanted to watch some Michael Haneke’s work since his last film, Das weiße Band (The White Ribbon), was awarded with the Palm d’Or for the best film in this year’s edition of Cannes. Then I found a curious coincidence by chance: the president of the jury was French actress Isabelle Huppert, who starred in La Pianiste (The Piano Teacher), a film from 2001 directed by —guess who—...
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September 2009
2 posts
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The night I watched Shoah
Watching almost ten hours straight of a documentary film about the Holocaust is a life changing experience. So my life actually changed this last summer, at least when it comes to my cinematographic perception.
I watched Shoah with my dear friend Hunter. We watched it at night so we didn’t get a wink of sleep, literally. To cap it all off, in a not very smart move, we only had bread and...
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“Hello world!”
– Brian Kernighan in The C Programming Language (1978)